For a Soviet teenager, joining the Komsomol was more than simply receiving a membership card. You needed recommendations, your application had to be discussed at a meeting, and other Komsomol members were effectively putting their name behind you. After that came meetings, membership fees, assignments and public work. If you stopped following the organization's rules, the same membership card could eventually become the subject of a disciplinary case.
In the late Soviet period, young people could join the Komsomol at the age of 14. An application by itself was not enough. A candidate usually needed recommendations from two Komsomol members who had been in the organization for at least a year, or from one Communist Party member who knew the candidate through school or work. A Pioneer organization could also recommend a schoolchild moving into the Komsomol. The application was then discussed at a meeting of the local organization, and the decision had to be approved by the district or city Komsomol committee.
Even joining a mass youth organization, in other words, involved a small test of trust, since other people had to say that they knew the candidate and were willing to recommend him or her. For a fourteen-year-old schoolchild, that could make the membership card feel a little more important than it might appear from the outside.
Once you joined, there were responsibilities. The Komsomol expected its members to study or work well, follow labor and state discipline, take part in public activities and fulfill the decisions of the organization. Members could also receive specific Komsomol assignments. One person might be asked to organize an event, another to gather people for a Saturday work project, while someone else could be responsible for a particular area of work or political and propaganda activities.
The membership could also be useful. The Komsomol was closely connected with the Communist Party and served as an important source of future personnel. An active young member could become part of the Komsomol leadership, move into a management position and later enter party or administrative work. For someone planning a career in the Soviet system, a good Komsomol record could be a real advantage.
There was also a less pleasant side. A member who repeatedly ignored the rules could receive criticism or a warning, followed by a formal reprimand or a more serious disciplinary measure. In some cases the reprimand was entered into the member's record. The most serious punishment was expulsion from the Komsomol.
The reasons for expulsion could be surprisingly varied. Komsomol records from the 1960s mention violations of the organization's rules, problems with work or military discipline, criminal convictions, drunkenness, hooliganism, theft and participation in religious ceremonies. Even losing your Komsomol membership card could become a problem. In 1969, 1,416 people across the USSR were expelled specifically for failing to pay their membership fees and becoming detached from the organization.
Religion was a particularly interesting case. During the stronger anti-religious campaigns of the late 1950s and early 1960s, people could actually be expelled for taking part in religious ceremonies. In 1961–1962, 891 Komsomol members were expelled for this reason. At the same time, local attitudes could be very different. In some organizations, attempts to expel people for church weddings or other religious practices met resistance from the Komsomol members themselves.
Drinking was a much more common reason for disciplinary problems. Soviet Komsomol statistics regularly listed drunkenness, hooliganism, immoral behavior and violations of discipline among the reasons for expulsion. In the Smolensk region alone, 814 people were expelled in 1986, excluding those who simply left because they reached the maximum age. Of those 814, 99 were expelled for drunkenness, 279 had been convicted of crimes, and 355 were expelled for violations of internal Komsomol discipline.
Money could cause trouble too. Komsomol members were expected to pay regular membership fees. If someone failed to pay for three months without a valid reason, the issue could be brought before the local organization for discussion. Something as ordinary as forgetting or refusing to pay a small monthly fee could therefore turn into an official disciplinary matter.
Expulsion itself also followed a formal procedure. It was not simply a decision made by the local secretary. The issue was discussed at a meeting of the primary organization, and at least two-thirds of those present had to vote for expulsion. The decision was then approved by the district or city committee. An expelled member could appeal within two months, with the appeal eventually reaching the Central Committee of the Komsomol.
There was another way to stop being a Komsomol member, and it was much less dramatic. In the normal course of things, membership ended when a person reached the age of 28, unless they were still serving in a leadership position within the organization. They were simply removed from the Komsomol register.
For an ordinary schoolchild, all of this probably felt much less political than it sounds today. You had to remember when the next meeting was, pay your fees, complete whatever assignment you had been given, keep your membership card and avoid getting yourself into a situation that would later have to be discussed in front of the whole group. For an active member, it could be the first experience of organizing other people and taking responsibility. For someone interested in a career, it could open doors. For someone who wanted to stay out of public life, it could feel like one more obligation that followed you through school and work.
The Komsomol itself was enormous, reaching into almost every part of Soviet society, from schoolchildren and university students to factory workers and young engineers just starting their careers. Inside it were enthusiastic activists and future officials alongside plenty of ordinary teenagers who had simply joined with their classmates, some taking their duties seriously and others treating the whole thing as a formality that came with growing up in that system.
For one person, the membership card was little more than something everyone around them had. For another, it became the beginning of a career. And for someone else, it eventually became a document carrying a reprimand, or the reason for a very uncomfortable meeting in front of people who had once vouched for them.
